Karen Wonders founded Maple Tree Cancer Alliance (MTCA) in 2011 as a non-profit organization in Dayton, Ohio, to improve cancer patients' quality of life through an individualized exercise program. By early 2020, MTCA had enjoyed significant growth, crossing the geographical and administrative boundaries of several hospital networks in the United States. Funding from hospital networks was contingent upon the efficacy of MTCA's exercise program, which could be established only through ongoing, rigorous data analysis. However, the old way of collecting and processing client data could not adapt to MTCA's current size; as such, MTCA needed a new solution, and Wonders found herself reviewing four options.
Nykaa E-Retail Private Limited (Nykaa), an Indian e-commerce start-up catering to the beauty and personal care segment, was preparing for its IPO amid the uncertainty presented by the nationwide lockdown in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since only retailers selling essential goods were allowed to remain open during the strictest lockdown phase, Nykaa was not able to operate during the first three months of 2020. Nykaa had adopted an omnichannel retailing strategy and made good use of digital marketing activities to ensure customer satisfaction, but its existing business model appeared to be insufficient to overcome the pandemic-related hardships. Nykaa needed to decide on potential strategy changes and the timing of its stock market debut, knowing that by postponing the highly anticipated IPO, the company could be risking its reputation.
James Urdang, founder of Education Africa, registered the non-profit organization (NPO) in 1992. While the dismantling of apartheid laws and legacies began in the early 1990s, the systemic impact of centuries of oppression required more than just a change in political leadership. The education system, challenged by the historical injustices of apartheid (and its colonial precursors), had been deeply impacted. Urdang set up Education Africa with the objective of contributing positively to the goal of equitable and quality education and aligned with the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goal of quality education for all. One of Education Africa's flagship programs was the South African Model UN (SAMUN). As an NPO, Education Africa relied on donor funding for its projects. A corruption scandal in 2010 left the organization severely financially compromised. While most of the NPO's projects, such as the Early Childhood Development project, had sufficient funding to be sustainable, SAMUN had not been able to run since 2017 due to a lack of funding. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in much of the organization's funding coming to an end in 2020. The pandemic's effect on global travel further exacerbated the sense that it would be difficult to reinstate SAMUN. How could Urdang source funding for SAMUN in the global pandemic context and financial constraints to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of Education Africa?
This technical note introduces readers to two important concepts involving design in the digital sphere: continuous design and hypothesis-driven design (HDD). Continuous design applies the proposition that rather than doing a large amount of design and research up front, a team is better off building smaller, specific items, testing them with users, and iteratively changing the design based on what it learns. HDD operates from the foundation that ideas should be testable and teams should work to minimize waste through small batch sizes and relevant evidence. HDD can help teams design better by helping them find the right problem and the right solution through two hypotheses: the persona hypothesis and the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) hypothesis. Using these, teams ask, ""Who is this for and what existing job (or problem, habit, or desire) does it deliver on?"" Touching on Lean Startup, agile, and other influential bodies of work, this note walks readers through asking the right questions; designing experiments to test persona, demand, JTBD, and usability hypotheses; and creating user-focused stories. It is a helpful tool for any team that's innovating and wants to make astute decisions about where and how to invest its time and energy.
Going through a dynamic market change with increased user growth and competition, the digital fitness scale-up Freeletics GmbH (Freeletics) found itself at a crossroads in September 2020. Equipped with fresh funding of US$25 million, the chief executive officer and the business development lead discussed the path forward for the company. Its current successful offering, a digital fitness coaching app, promised continuous growth. However, changing market conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, new user behaviours, and emerging technologies offered new opportunities-and new competition. Consequently, Freeletics had to diversify its business model with new offerings to strategically renew its competitive advantages while keeping the existing successful business growing. The chief executive officer and business development lead had to find an organizational approach that would allow them to start a new entrepreneurial journey without neglecting what they had already built.
Longevity Wines was a family-owned urban winery and certified minority-owned business based in the Livermore Valley wine region of Northern California. Founders Phil and Debra Long opened Longevity Wines in 2008 when their winemaking hobby outgrew their garage. By that time, they had spent years visiting tasting rooms and had identified a need to increase inclusivity in the wine community. The wine industry had a history of exclusion in terms of race, gender, and class; how could Phil Long make the wine community more inclusive and his wine brand more accessible to BIPOC consumers?
In May 2022, an interactive brand activation for Insomnia Cookies (Cookies), called CookieLab, celebrated its one-year anniversary. Insomnia enjoyed strong brand-name recognition for its late-night snack of freshly baked cookies and offered a strong unique selling point (USP), especially among college students. But there were still many questions about the company's next steps, including whether a growth strategy through CookieLab was the most suitable strategy for Insomnia. Specifically, should Insomnia expand CookieLab to other locations, locally, in the north east region of the United States, or across the United States? If yes, what marketing strategy and tactics should Insomnia use to grow that expansion?
Hemant Gaur, managing director of Siddhi Vinayak Agri Processing Pvt. Ltd. (SVA), had to approve the marketing mix for Carisma, a global retail potato brand. Known for its great taste and low glycemic index rating, the Carisma product was available to SVA through its joint venture partner. If the launch of Carisma was successful, SVA could significantly increase its revenue and profitability, as well as its market value. However, the launch would consume precious resources that could otherwise be used to grow current revenue sources and SVA capabilities. Thus if the launch was unsuccessful, SVA would have wasted its resources and lost the confidence of its investors. The decision was critical for SVA, and Gaur had to make it soon to allow the full financial year's revenue to be included in the SVA valuation.
Only 16% of new corporate ventures succeed, mainly because there are few methodologies for reaching scale. The authors' research shows that successful companies use scaling paths. Such paths require a clarity of ambition; an understanding of the assets needed to access customers, capabilities, and capacity; and a willingness to use a variety of techniques to assemble those assets into a coherent strategy for attaining scale. This article offers leaders five lessons for blazing a scaling path.
In early 2022, Rajendra Jaiswal was in a quandary about the future of the collective enterprise Diwak Mata Farmer Producer Company Limited (Diwak Mata), which his organization, Prakriti Foundation for Natural Resources Regeneration (Prakriti), had helped incubate and grow. Since Diwak Mata’s registration in 2018, Prakriti had helped it develop connections with various value chain participants and overcome the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With a supportive Board of Directors (BoD) and an able chief executive officer (CEO) in Rakesh Sen, Diwak Mata was recognized as one of the better-performing producer companies in the region and had growing revenues with fluctuating profits. Looking at the figures of the audited balance sheet, Jaiswal wondered whether Prakriti should withdraw its support to the producer company. Were Diwak Mata’s BoD of farmers and the CEO strong enough to chart the organization’s own path? Could they create sufficient ownership from the stakeholders for sustained growth in Prakriti’s absence? Should Prakriti remain loyal to Diwak Mata or exit and continue its core activities with other communities?
The cannabis industry in Canada has experienced unprecedented growth since the Cannabis Act came into effect in 2018. It is widely expected that cannabidiol (CBD) will be classified as a food and natural health ingredient in Canada, the European Union, and other jurisdictions in the near future, which will open up a significant market. In 2023, Dr. Jacqueline Shan, the CEO of PBG BioPharma, made a long-term strategic decision to enter the cannabis consumer health market by launching a series of CBD consumer health products once the cannabis regulations in Canada are relaxed. In preparing to launch its own consumer product line, PBG BioPharma is developing its marketing strategy and analyzing potential challenges in managing its supply chain.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is often criticized for being overly broad and abstract, if not cynical and deceitful. This leaves many stakeholders frustrated or disengaged, including occasionally the organization's own staff and shareholders. We see the extraordinary disruptions of the past three years amid the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to reengage with CSR in a more meaningful way. Echoing early conceptualizations by academics and practitioners, we turn to the idea of neighborliness as a guide for this transformation, outlining concrete ways in which this can be operationalized for focused engagements that reflect each company's embeddedness in distinct communities.
In July 2022, Ashley Sudjianto, a partner at Adelaida Technology Capital (ATC), had to make a recommendation to ATC's investment committee on how much money ATC should lend to CarboCaptor Inc., an emerging chemical-manufacturing start-up that had a patented, cost-effective solvent that captured carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. In late 2021, CarboCaptor had been well on the way to launching a new vertical: chemical compounds to aid CO2 storage in concrete. Now, CarboCaptor's CEO had reached out to ATC for $6.5 million in debt financing, $2.3 million of which was to fund equipment purchases, and $4.2 million of which was to finance CarboCaptor's growth strategy and working capital needs. ATC was a perfect partner to reach out to. An East Coast venture leasing investor, the fund specialized in small-scale biotech and manufacturing equipment financing. It typically acquired these tangible assets and leased them to companies, receiving in return a promise of scheduled payments as well as warrants to purchase start-up stocks. CarboCaptor's equipment needs were exactly what ATC aimed to finance. There was just one catch: CarboCaptor's board of directors had decided to offer ATC its two core patents as collateral for the financing. The patents had 13 years of useful life remaining and were crucial for CarboCaptor's ability to produce its most popular product, CO2 solvent. But ATC had never used patents as collateral for a venture leasing transaction before. On all accounts, CarboCaptor's two core patents were valuable. Could Sudjianto convince her partners to use patents as collateral in exchange for funding the full $6.5 million CarboCaptor had requested? And if she could, what terms and deal structure would be the best to account for the riskiness of the venture?
Udaan was an Indian business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce start-up founded in 2016. Initially, it grew at a brisk pace, achieving unicorn status in record time. For the small retailers Udaan targeted, the pre-existing product distribution chain was long, inefficient, and highly fractured. With the arrival of e-commerce, deepening cell phone penetration, and the government's increased interest in digitization, many start-ups emerged in the B2B e-commerce space. While most players adopted a vertical-based business model focused on specific product categories, Udaan pursued top-line growth and attacked the sector's inefficiencies with a horizontal, cross-category business model. As of 2021, the valuation of Udaan's competitors have grown much faster than its own. In face of this pressure, Udaan's founders had to consider revisiting their strategy and exploring other options.
In January 2021, Indigo Paints Limited launched an initial public offering of ordinary equity shares to list the company on a stock exchange. It was one of the most subscribed public offers in recent times in India. The company was in the business of manufacturing and selling decorative paints. A retail investor from Mumbai, India received an allotment of Indigo shares and wondered if the grey market premium indicated a fair value for the stock. He understood that initial public offerings were generally underpriced, but wondered what the company's intrinsic value actually was. He sought input from his friend, who was an independent financial advisor, to help him understand the value proposition that the initial public offering would bring to Indigo Paints Limited. The two friends consulted all relevant financial statements and began their calculations.
In this exercise, students are required to match eleven unidentified companies to the relevant industry group in which they operate, based on the Global Industry Classification Standards (GICS). Students are provided with a description of the eleven GICS and the financial information of the eleven companies. Each company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). While the exercise has an Australian focus, international students should be able to correctly match the companies to their industry due to the generic nature of the industry characteristics.
Annie Anthony, the chief financial officer of Liz Motor Corp. (Liz), was attempting to use capital budgeting to evaluate an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) project using all the available quantitative and qualitative information. Anthony had planned an ESG project, which would help the company adopt solid-state battery technology for most Liz electric vehicles and reduce the carbon footprint of electric vehicle batteries by 39 per cent, to improve the company's ESG and sustainability. The technology was so new that Liz would be the first major automaker to use it on a large scale. It would increase sales and the profit margin in the long run but would also require a heavy initial investment to allow Liz to adopt the technology. With all the information needed for a thorough capital budgeting analysis, Anthony believed she was ready to develop a framework to comprehensively evaluate this critical project. She also needed to do ten sensitivity analyses based on ten different scenarios.